High soprano Jeanine Thames…....was the very best among the singers, accurate and sweet of voice, and winning in her characterization of Miss Wordsworth, the head teacher.
—The Gay City News
Jeanine Thames has thrilled audiences throughout the Americas, Europe and Japan with a voice that has been described as “stratospheric” (New York Times), “exquisite” (Arizona Daily Star), and “silvery and effortless” (Orpheus, Germany). She has been heard on the prestigious stages of Paris National Opera, The Berlin State Opera, Düsseldorf Opera, Atlanta Opera and Vancouver Opera singing Mozart’s Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote. She has also made appearances with Brussels Opera, New Israeli Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera and Arizona Opera. Her many operatic roles have included the title characters in La Traviata Lucia di Lammermoor, and La Fille du Regiment. She has also sung the roles of Gilda Rigoletto, Zerbinetta (_Ariadne auf Naxos_) and Leila (_Les Pecheurs des Perles_) Ms. Thames has appeared with numerous symphony orchestras, including Munich Radio Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, singing Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, The Creation and Messiah. She also appeared as a soloist with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Elijah.
In 2011, Miss Thames will be heard singing Mahler’s Ressurection Symphony with both Amarillo Symphony and Fairfax Symphony. (VA) In 2010 Miss Thames sang Brahms Requiem with Dallas Symphony and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with The Southeast Symphony of Texas. In previous seasons, Miss Thames has sung The Mozart Requiem with Guadalajara Symphony under the baton of Hector Guzman and with Lancaster Symphony (PA), Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony with Norwalk Symphony, Haydn’s Creation with Xalapa Symphony and the Carmina Burana with Monterey Symphony, Detroit Symphony and St. Louis Symphony among many others. She was the soloist in Mendelsohn’s Elijah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and she has sung Messiah with Arizona Symphony and Pacific Symphony. Miss Thames also recently appeared in a Gala Concert at the International Music Festival Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic.
Recent operatic roles include Micaëla in Carmen with the Shreveport Opera and the world premiere of The Greater Good by Stephen Hartke at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. The production, based on the Maupassant story, “Boule de Suif” garnished rave reviews throughout the national and international press. Miss Thames sang the role of Miss Wordworth in Albert Herring with New York’s Gotham Chamber Opera and she sang the title role in La Traviata with Opera Ontario.
While under contract in Düsseldorf, Miss Thames sang the title role in a new production of La Fille du Régiment as well as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. With Brussels’ Royal Opera de la Monnaie and Tel Aviv’s New Israeli Opera she performed Victor Ullman’s critically acclaimed opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis. With Bilbao Opera in Spain she sang the roles of Elisetta in Il Matrimonio Segreto and Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
In concert, in Europe, Miss Thames sang in a Gala New Year’s Concert, broadcast live on television, with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra (MDR) in Leipzig’s historic Gewandhaus, and she sang with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra on numerous occasions.
In addition to the above-mentioned roles, Miss Thames has enjoyed success as Musetta in La Bohème, Nannetta in Falstaff, Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Baby Doe in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with opera houses in the States and abroad. She has worked with esteemed conductors such as Mario Bernardi, Richard Bonynge, James Conlon, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Eduardo Mueller, Alessandro Siciliani, and Marcello Viotti.
She can be heard on three CD releases: Most recently, The Greater Good, recorded live at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival (on the Naxos label) Die Entführung aus dem Serail, recorded live at the Würzburg Mozart Festival (on the Capriccio label), and Behold the Sun, a group of works by the composer Alexander Goehr, recorded with the London Sinfonietta (on the Unicorn Kanchana label).
Jeanine Thames is heard frequently in recital and chamber music in her home town of Dallas, TX and throughout the United States. In Dallas, she has appeared in recital with Voces Intimae,Voices of Change, the Puccini Foundation, and the Blue Candlelight Society. She hails from Beaumont, Texas, and is a graduate of Lamar University (B.M.) and The Juilliard School (M.M.) She resides in Plano, Texas with her husband, tenor, Allan Glassman, and their eleven-year-old son Ben.